Is There A World You Long To See?
by MilitiasPoeta
Summary: When The Doctor and Jenny arrive on planet Earth a little earlier than they had planned, they encounter a fixed point in time which they must avoid at all costs...
1. Prologue

**This story is one of my first multichapter stories that I am actually planning on continuing. It is a reboot of my earlier story, "Legacy of Gallifrey". I removed "Legacy of Gallifrey" because I could tell it was going nowhere, and I didn't want you all to hope falsely. My apologies if I left you hanging at all...**

**Now, since I got a burst of inspiration a few days ago, I shall continue what I started, but as a crossover, not a regular. **

**There will be no foul language or inappropriate content in this story. I am rating it T because of violence and angst. **

**I do not own either Doctor Who or Les Miserables. If I did, I would be dead either way. (one because of angry fangirls and the other because of the progress of time and age...)**

**Reviews are much appreciated. If I go OOC at all, do not hesitate to notify me.**

**Now that we have all that out of the way, here is the story!**

**~ Warp**

The TARDIS carried Donna and The Doctor away from England, and into the Vortex. The Doctor chose a random time period and location, where they began to float aimlessly. Both time travelers kept to themselves, not voicing anything. Donna gave the Doctor space, because she knew what he had just gone through. He, on the other hand, when asked about it a few hours ago, had brushed it off, like he always did. Said there was nothing wrong, when there was always _something_. Something nagging at his hearts.

The Doctor's daughter had just died. Not a daughter by normal circumstances, mind you, but by cellular generation. A child by a machine. It had been almost instantaneous, they didn't even know what had happened until Jenny had stepped out of that big thing and said, "Hello, Dad."

She was armed, only a few seconds old but with knowledge of weaponry and how to fight. She was a soldier, and though the Doctor knew that she was from him, he refused to accept her. Because he hated fighting. And because it was like she had filled a place dear to his hearts that he hadn't known existed, but he didn't want to think about _ever again_.

But she had proven herself well, she had shown him that he could love a child again, that she adored him and would follow in his footsteps as the Doctor's Daughter, bringer of peace and bringer of war, Children of Gallifrey together, wandering the universe and restoring Time.

But she had died. Died in his arms. Was torn away from him. She had taken the bullet for him, and she hadn't regenerated, even though her hearts had stopped.

She was supposed to regenerate, but she wasn't enough like him.

_No, she was too much like me._

_Too much._

Now she was gone, and he couldn't do anything. He had no family again. No one to take care of, except for Donna. The Doctor looked over at the fiery readheaded woman. He smiled slightly. _And she takes care of me more than I take care of her._

The Doctor decided it was time to come out of this sullen silence, and was about to speak, but his human friend beat him to it.

"This planet… _Messaline_," Donna started, "It was completely terraformed?"

"Yep."

No other words were spoken for a time.

"And what was the point to that question?"

"Just trying to 'ease the mood'." Donna replied.

"Don't try," stated the Doctor with a bitter tone, reminded of Jenny again.

Donna's mouth tightened and she cocked her head. "Sorry."

The Doctor protested. "It's me who should be sorry."

Donna came over and sat down on the TARDIS bench beside him. She draped an arm around his shoulders tenderly. "I'm not sorry about _that_, Spaceman."

The Doctor felt tears welling up in his throat. _mustnotcrymustnotcrymustnotcry_

Donna rubbed his arm. She was a surprisingly good comforter when she tried, for one with such sassiness.

The Doctor nodded sadly.

_BEEP_

_BEEP_

The TARDIS console yelled at its Time Lord.

_BEEEEEEP_

"What is it?" Donna asked, looking at the keyboard with spinny circles.

"Something… approaching," The Doctor swallowed his tears and jumped from his seat.

"Something approaching fast."

**Sorry about the shortness of that chapter. I wrote it a while ago, and the rest of the story is on another document which is on another device which is currently quite dead. I will update when it is charged. :D**


	2. Chapter I

The words in Jenny's head were finally beginning to make sense. Bit by tiny bit, terms leaked into the girl's mind, though the information was purely factual, and no images came with them.

TARDIS...Gallifrey...Regeneration...Time Lord...Touch Telepathy...Fixed Points...Binary Vascular System...

And the thing was, she knew exactly what these things meant, though no one had ever told her what they were. How this happened, she had no idea.

TARDIS, Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, a time-and space-travel capsule that can blend in with its surroundings, and is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Originating from the planet Gallifrey.

Gallifrey, a planet in the constellation Kastoborous, native species Time Lord. Also called the Shining Planet of the Seven Systems.

Regeneration, the ability to rejuvenate oneself, usually consisting of complete bodily change, sometimes personality. A function of the Time Lords.

Time Lord, native species of the planet Gallifrey, originated when their ancestors were subjected to the Untempered Schism, a crack in the fabric of reality. From this comes the ability to see Fixed Points, travel through time, and have a cycle of twelve regenerations. Time Lords are also generally stronger than humans, can survive exposure to radiation, and only need sleep every few months. Also called Gallifreyans.

Touch Telepathy, another function of the Time Lords, gives the ability to read emotions by touch. Can also be extended to read memories, but it can only be used in this way if the one being read is a willing participant.

Fixed Points, points in Time that can never be changed, or else the whole of reality will do unpredictable things. History can be smashed together, the clock may stop, an explosion can occur, and other catastrophic occurrences. The rest of Time is in flux.

Binary Vascular System, a Time Lord's circulatory system which consists of two hearts.

Jenny's brain was on overload, and the little spaceship began to swerve as she lifted her palms to her forehead. She gritted her teeth as the words poured into her mind. It wasn't pain, exactly, that afflicted her brain, though something of a mental pressure. Jenny's small capsule was completely off course now, though she didn't know just exactly where she was going. The plan had seemed good when she first thought of it. But now she was beginning to wonder.

\

The Doctor's brow furrowed. "It's a... Spaceship!" He exclaimed. Tiny! There's only one passenger, but... Nooooo..."

Donna peered at him. "What? What is it?"

The Doctor broke out into a wide grin, ecstatic with joy from realization. He nearly danced around the console, flipping switches and turning knobs and pressing buttons. Donna stood near the railing, watching him with slight bewilderment, slight amusement.

"Where are we going?" Donna asked slowly.

The Doctor just laughed.

\

Through the buzz in Jenny's head, she noticed a beeping red light on her controls. She wouldn't have heard it a few minutes ago, maybe the pressure was receding. Yes, it did seem like that. The tumultuous whirlpool of facts was organizing itself, and the more organized everything got, the more the buzzing relented.

Though the annoying noise that was usually attributed to bees and other insects native to Earth (though bees aren't as native as you might think) had stopped, another sound, this one equally annoying, proceeded to irritate the young Time Lord.

Thank goodness that there were only three repeats of it. However, a large thump then reverberated through the spacecraft.

Worried that something had gone wrong with her transportation, Jenny began to check readings. But nothing was wrong, that she could see at the moment. So what had made the loud thump?

An equally loud creak startled Jenny, as light poured from an unknown source into the capsule and reflected off of the exoglass canopy.

The few hours that Jenny had lived had been filled with strange and wonderful things, including aliens, terraforming, and suddenly realizing that her parent was not a normal human and that he traveled through time. Reluctant acceptance by this said parent had turned into embracing her into his legacy as the last of the Time Lords.

Though all of that had not prepared her for what she saw as she turned around.

A huge blue box sat in her incredibly tiny spaceship, taking up all of the space behind her chair. One of the small double doors was wide open, and there stood her father, looking just like she had last seen him. Spiffy blue suit, with a white shirt and loose red tie.

The chair blocked her view of his legs and feet, but she knew he was wearing some sort of lace-up red shoe.

His brown hair stood on end.

And he was grinning like a loon.

"Dad!" Jenny clambered out of her harness and over the back of the chair, into the small space between the back of the seat and the side of the box, then realized how odd this situation was.

"Why are you in a box?"

The Doctor laughed. "It's the TARDIS! It's my spaceship!"

Jenny laughed, too. "I know!"

A quizzical expression came over the Gallifreyan. "You do?"

"Yep!"

Donna's cockney voice filtered through the doorway. "This isn't exactly the time for a bigger-on-the-inside talk!"

"Um. Yes." The Doctor rubbed his neck. "By the way, you're about to get pulled into the gravitational pull of a black hole."

"Oh!" Jenny looked immensely surprised. "What's a black hole?"

"Bad news," the Doctor grasped his daughter's arm. "I'll explain later. For now, let's leg it."

\

Jenny bounced into the console room an hour later, her long blonde hair wet and loosed from its ponytail. She wore a pair of baggy jeans, along with a dark blue t-shirt and a gray zip up hoodie that bore the logo of a prominent London high school. Her combat boots were still laced tightly on her feet.

The Doctor felt a pang of sorrow pass through his hearts when he realized that the sweatshirt had once belonged to Rose, but happiness soon mixed with the sadness, creating a bittersweet reunion in his soul. He was glad that his daughter wore the clothes of his best friend and love. It seemed right somehow, like a legacy. Jenny even looked a little like Rose.

"Does this work?" Jenny grinned and lifted her arms to her sides, spinning around in a quick circle. The last name "Tyler" was printed on the back.

The Doctor smiled warmly. "Brilliant. Absolutely wonderful."

Satisfied, Jenny lowered her arms. "Right, then," the girl leaned against the console, looking at her father through the foggy glass of the time rotor. "Where to? What are you going to show me on our first time round? and by the way, what's a black hole?"

The Doctor laughed. "What would you like to see?"

"A planet," Jenny answered quickly.

The Doctor had barely begun to access the massive resovoir of information about various planets in his mind, pondering which one would be suitable, when Jenny interrupted him.

"How about our planet?"

Oh no. This was not a good subject.

"Gallifrey, isn't it called? It must be beautiful. Orange skies, planets and moons orbiting, red grass on hillsides of silver and a golden citadel encased in glass. The Time Lords reigning proud. It should be magnificent."

"Ah..." The Doctor stammered, "yes. Yes it was very beautiful, but... How do you know all of that? I didn't tell you, did I?"

"No, the words just sort of appeared in my mind. It's all head knowledge, like a science book. I assumed it was normal."

"Well," said the Doctor, scratching his neck, "Nothing is exactly normal, but... I guess it could happen. Shared DNA, you might have gotten some of my memories along the way..."

"But can we go see it?" Jenny looked at him eagerly.

The Doctor sighed and slipped his hands into the pockets of his brown pinstriped suit. (He had changed.)

"Jenny, we can't go to Gallifrey."

Jenny frowned slightly, somewhat perplexed. "Why not?"

Well, it had to come out sometime. It always did, with his friends and colleagues. And family, now apparently. The fact that his race was dead. His planet was gone. His world destroyed. He was a man without a home, whose only life was in a strange blue box that floated among the stars, travelling, seeing the wonders of the universe but never looking. Both admiring humanity and hating it, because it was so like his own people. Thinking that they were not worthy to bear the shape of the Time Lords, but forgetting that the Time Lords of Gallifrey were stubborn and monarchial, not listening to the pleas of others, never interfering even when it could have saved a life. The Doctor was not of that race any more. He was a wanderer, friendless, because all of his friends were gone, and in his old age he had seen many souls die before his eyes, ones he had loved, and ones who had loved him. But he had to keep going. To finish his journey. But where would his journey end. Where would his home be if not at the graves of those he had lost.

The Doctor looked down at the floor. "Gallifrey is gone. It was destroyed." He said it in the most emotionless way he could muster, but still his voice cracked.

Jenny's eyes widened. "How..."

"A war. Everyone else is dead. We're all that is left." the Doctor explained. Jenny immediately understood, she herself being born to be a soldier. She had fought in skirmishes on the planet Messaline.

Jenny did not ask anything more. All she said was a quiet, "I wish I could have seen it."

"Oh," the Doctor smiled in nostalgia, glancing up at the ceiling, as if watching wisps of clouds float through an amber sky. Soon he brought his eyes back to his daughter's beautiful face, flushed with disappointment, and he blinked away his own forming tears. "Jenny. I'm sorry."

Jenny smiled slightly, her eyes lighting up in worship for the only parent she had ever known. "It's not your fault."

Yes, it is. But the Doctor didn't say it, not now. Not when he had just met her.

"Is there anywhere else we can go?"

The Doctor gave a small grin and drew his hands out of his pockets. "Have you ever heard of Earth?"

"No."

"Ah, well. It's Donna's home planet. Beautiful. Stunning, especially from orbit. The people there are wonderful, and over my nine hundred years of space travel, I have grown to love the place."

"There, then?" Jenny leaned against the console railing, beaming, bracing herself for flight.

"There, then."

\

When the shaking and rolling stopped, the two Time Lords fell over laughing on the metal grating of the TARDIS, Jenny a bit shaken up from her first rough ordeal in a time machine.

"Right," the Doctor said cheerfully, hopping up onto his trainers. He began to flip switches and push levers as the TARDIS finally fully materialized with a clunk and Jenny pulled herself to her feet.

"So," the girl said, out of breath and her head spinning furiously. She was giddy with happiness, but the dark shadow of deep disappointment remained in the recesses of her intelligent mind. She had wanted to see her homeworld so badly, but she hadn't realized it. She still didn't realize how much she longed for her home, the home she had never known, the world of bright cities and vibrant, rich color that she knew but did not see.

"M-hm," the Doctor muttered, checking a final reading. He threw his long, thick traveling coat over his skinny shoulders, tucked his glasses into his pocket, grabbed Jenny's hand enthusiastically and made for the door, a wide and borderline insane grin on his face.

"Oi, spaceman, where're you going?" Donna's voice echoed through the spacious room.

"Oh," the Doctor looked at his friend in surprise. "I forgot. You'll probably want to come, too."

"You forgot."

"...yes."

Donna sighed as if this was completely normal and only slightly annoying, since it had become so familiar. She slipped her arms into a thin black jacket that dangled from one hand and joined them at the doors.

"This had better be good," she said under her breath as the Doctor grasped the handle in the blue wood.

"It will be," the Doctor affirmed. "Jenny, Donna, welcome to the year 2054, the year that the first brand of flying car was released to the public, there are skyscrapers that actually touch the sky, as in, the tips of them reach the exosphere, and the human race has formed an alliance with the Ice Warriors of Mars, who had, the year before, nearly destroyed the planet on the judicial charge of mining carbon dioxide on the surface of the Red World. Here, my friends, is..."

The Doctor dramatically swung the door open, "Earth."

\

Jenny peered out the opening doorway in wonder, taking in the strange white, roiling sky with inconsistent patches of blue, and the golden light streaming onto tall rooftops. Clear liquid fell from the sky lightly, and the pleasant scent of evaporating moisure hung in the air, which was oxygen-rich.

Thumping noises echoed on the small, staggered stone blocks which served as a walkway. The stones shone with the light reflecting off of them, and the chattering sound of human voices met Jenny's ears like wind through rushes, some yells, some laughter, and generally beautiful chaos.

A fresh breeze brushed past the young woman's cheek, filling her eyes with tears, and Jenny soaked the whole situation in, dazzled by the newness of this experience and the presence of human life that was peaceful and not enraged in conflict.

Jenny saw a flash of red out of the corner of her eye as Donna poked her head out beside Jenny's. Donna snorted suddenly, drawing her head back in.

Jenny kept her wide-eyed-and-mouthed face fixed on the outside world.

"This isn't 2054, you idiot," Donna chided the tall man behind her. "They're not gonna use horses when they have flying cars."

"Oh?" the Doctor also pushed his head out beside Jenny's. "Oh."

"What's wrong?" Jenny asked, finally bringing her attention off of the sight before her.

"Um," the Doctor stammered, "I might have landed a couple centuries off."

Jenny shrugged. "Makes no difference to me which century we land in," she said, planting her hands on either side of the doorframe, her foot raised to take a tentative step out into this new world.

"Don't worry, it won't bite you," Donna said amusedly, still with a hint of mock annoyance in her voice from the Doctor landing them in the wrong place... Again.

Jenny paced her foot on the hard ground, a thrill going up her leg. An alien planet. Alien soil. Alien air circulating through her lungs and feeding her two hearts. It was glorious.

She took another step, and now she was fully out of the TARDIS.

Another step. She breathed in, and heard the footsteps of her two companions clattering on the pavement, along with the creak and slam of the time machine's doors.

At the end of a short tunnel of brick wall lay the street, and every now-and-again Jenny saw humans, the females in long dresses and coats that reached to their feet, and hats with brims that stuck into the air. Such strange clothing. Inconvenient for running.

Jenny felt a strong hand on her shoulder and saw her father's tall shape beside her. She grinned up at him in extacy. He grinned back.

"I know what you're feeling now," the Doctor empathized. "Joy. Wonder. The grandeur of it all. Donna knows it too. Everyone who has ever traveled in space or time understands. Jenny, you are experiencing something that most people have never experienced before. Now..." The Doctor suddenly saw a young male human, of about ten years, running along the street, "to know the date."


	3. Chapter II

It had taken a large amount of coaxing to get simply the year out of the child.

"Spare a sou?" The boy had first asked the Doctor, who obviously to him looked like a bourgois. When he found that the strange man had not a penny on him, the boy was disappointed, then proceeded to mock the Doctor as to how stupid he could be if he did not know the year. But, finally, the travelers apprehended the number.

"1832! Paris, 1832." the Doctor gushed. "Lovely year. For England and America, anyways. Haven't been to Paris in this time period before now... Always enjoyed English-speaking countries better for some reason..."

Jenny had absolutely no idea what was happening, and why her father was so excited, but his enthusiasm mixed with her wonder created a cocktail of emotion swirling in her gut and she loved the feeling, even though she understood none of it.

"So we're not going to 2054?" Donna asked. Her voice did not show that she was either disappointed or glad, but just that she wanted to know what the schedule was.

"Don't see why we shouldn't stay here," the Doctor replied, breathing in the Parisian air. He looked into the now-clearing sky. The golden rays that had shone through the clouds were beginning to dim already, bringing on twilight. "It should be fully dark in about half an hour," he estimated, and looked over his shoulder at Donna. "What should we show Jenny?" He asked his friend.

"Um," Donna sighed and leaned against the TARDIS doorpost. "Speaking of that, I'm going to take this one off."

"What?" The Doctor said surprisedly. "Not going to roam around 19th century France with us? Are you going to leave us all on our own?"

Donna laughed good-naturedly. "That's my point! You two need some daddy-daughter time. To get to know each other. And besides, I can busy myself around the TARDIS. Your room, in fact, looks frightful, and I was planning on cleaning the kitchen, where someone made me spill milk on the floor when we were taking off." The woman looked pointedly at the Doctor.

"Sorry."

"'S fine," Donna waved a hand dismissively. "But my point is, go have fun. I'll catch you guys later. But not too late. Oh, and... Before you go, Jenny, you might want to change."

\

Jenny would have just picked the first thing on the rack, but Donna insisted on tying her up for a bit.

When Jenny finally emerged from the TARDIS, she wore a light spring green dress, of a simple cut, along with a warm many-layered petticoat, leggings, and her brown laceup boots. Donna had wanted to change those out for something more period-fitting, but Jenny had insisted. Besides, they would be hidden under the dress, and no one would see them unless she had to do some running.

The green dress was modest, but showed off her natural beauty without being blatant. This was something the Doctor had insisted on, as he wouldn't appreciate his only daughter attracting any unwanted male attention.

The Doctor smiled broadly when he saw her, as Donna handed Jenny one last garment before the two took off. It was a brown wool coat and hood.

"Madamoiselle," the Doctor said grandly, and bowed. He held out his hand. Jenny took it. She laughed, even though she probably did not understand what the word 'madamoiselle' meant.

\

Donna watched her friends walk through the dimming sunlight with a smile on her face and on her heart. She cared deeply for the Doctor, and she trusted him with her life. Her house was on Earth, 2009, but her home was the alien vehicle that was called the TARDIS.

She was not romantically involved with the Doctor at all. She was disgusted at the very thought. Alien weirdo space-travelers were definitely not her type. She loved the Doctor, but with something deeper than romance. If she ever had to leave, she would be utterly broken. Here she felt safe. Here she felt comforted and accepted the way she was, as just an ordinary woman who had made some mistakes in her life. And here, with the Doctor, she could leave all of that behind.

Her happiness was his happiness. His happiness was hers, and she did not feel any jealousy, no matter how she might act, that Jenny was taking her place right now. Jenny was a part of their family now. Their little, broken, strange, time-traveling family.

"Right." Donna said, patting the TARDIS lovingly. "Let's go clean the kitchen."

As she turned around to push the door open, the last ray of light from the setting sun illuminated the blue door, and made it glimmer, but that wasn't what caught Donna's eye. From her perspective, she could see the silhouette of a large man looming over her, and holding something in his outstretched hand.

Donna didn't have time to scream before the man's arm was locked around her throat, cutting off her windpipe and making it dificult to breathe.

"Good job, mon ami," a slimy voice slithered to Donna's ear.

A tall, thin man with greasy red hair and tattered clothing moved into view, resting his hand on the door. "This'll bring a pretty price."

"Let me go, you... Sontaran," Donna spat hoarsely.

"And the bourgeois that owns it," the man's lip curled upward cruelly as he pushed against the door. It didn't budge. He pushed again. The door just rattled.

"The key?" He asked.

Donna slowly shook her head. "I don't have it." she was speaking the truth. The key was locked inside.

"Ah, well," the man smiled again. "It won't take us long to get it open. Brujon!" he called, and an equally large man as the one who held her came forward with an axe.

"No, no, no, that won't do any good," Donna protested, but her cries were cut off by a rag being pressed over her mouth. A horrible stench filled her nose, and she had to fight unconsciousness.

The axe in Brujon's hand launched itself at the TARDIS, and the machinery groaned as Donna's sight went dark.

Another bang.

Donna, though her vision was extremely blurry, could see the light on the top of the TARDIS begin to revolve, and a wheezing noise eminated from the box.

Oh, no... No... He did not turn on the HADS again. He didn't... He didn't...

\

The Doctor and Jenny strolled along the streets, arm-in-arm, happiness in the air between them. The city was beginning to quiet down. They had been walking for fifteen minutes and the sky was a deep purple-blue, with stars winking through the dissipating clouds. There was no moon in the sky. It was beautiful. Jenny could not stop staring at anything and everything, the passing people, the carts pulled by huge beasts that the Doctor called "horses". Jenny reckoned that they must be extremely powerful to carry the loads that she saw. Their four feet made sharp sounds on the still-wet pavement, throwing droplets of moisture into the air.

Men began to light lanterns that sat atop tall posts, so as to give illumination to the streets.

"Where are we going?" Jenny whispered.

"I thought we'd walk around a bit, then go find something fun to do," the Doctor replied.

"We've been walking for a while," Jenny remarked.

"You're right. Um," the Doctor stopped walking and looked around the area that they were in. At the moment they were on a wide main road, surrounded by alleyways. A fork in the street led into two narrow rues, where washing dangling off of lines could just barely be seen through the dark. On the corner of the fork there sat an old building. It leaned precariously off to the side, though the Doctor could see that, structurally, the building was still sound. It was warmly lit with candles from the inside, and sounds of laughter echoed through it. Shadows danced at the windows.

"Does that look like a good place?" the Doctor pointed.

"Yes," Jenny sighed.

\

The tavern was noisy, but not crowded, and compared to some other places the Doctor had been to through the years, the clientele wasn't over-the-top. As they entered, a portly woman of about fifty-five greeted them absentmindedly and hurriedly said that they could sit wherever they pleased, and that a servant would come around sometime.

The Doctor and Jenny chose a small table in a room that was a little farther back, and on the upper level of the pub. There were mostly men in this part of the tavern, which made the Doctor a little nervous, but he soon brushed his anxiety aside as the serving girl came around and he ordered food for them both.

"Time to try out the delicious French cuisine," he told Jenny mischevously.

Jenny laughed. She looked down at the rough wooden table thoughtfully and leaning forward in a very unladylike fashion.

"Dad," she started, rubbing a stain in the grain of the wood, "I don't understand... this planet is called Earth, right? And this city is called Paris. But you keep saying the word 'France.' What..."

When Jenny had started to talk, the Doctor had thought that she was going to ask something that would uncover a bit of his past. A bit of his past that, as of yet, he did not want her to know. Instead, in a sudden rush of relief, he laughed.

"What?" Jenny looked into his brandy-brown eyes.

He stopped lauhing. "Sorry," said he, "I just wasn't expecting that."

"Oh."

"France is a country in the continent of Europe on Earth. Countries are like..." The Doctor paused, trying to find an analogy that she could understand. "Cities, except really, really big and with places where no one is living. Does that help?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

The plates of food that the Doctor had ordered arrived promptly. Each small platter contained a cooked fish and a hunk of cheese and baguette. Jenny stared at her meal incomprehendingly.

"Um..." The Doctor looked at her expression, "you use a fork to eat the fish, by the way. And also, watch out for bones."

"Which is the fish?"

"That." The Doctor pointed to the fish.

"Uh-huh," Jenny nodded.

"...and that's bread."

"Yep."

"And that's cheese."

"Got it," Jenny affirmed, and began to eat hungrily. The Doctor chuckled internally, understanding the ravenous desire for food. Whilst absorbed in his travels, the Doctor himself had often forgotten to eat.

As Jenny devoured her food, the Doctor took the time to slowly observe the other customers of the café. Their appearances were widely varied, from large and strong, looking like they might like a fight very much, to thin and weak. From trustworthy to extremely untrustworthy. Sober to drunk. Healthy to sickly. Two particular young men caught his attention. They were standing by the large, open window, speaking in whispers about something that was very important, judging by the looks on their faces. One of them, a youth in his early twenties with a head of thick, curly golden hair, was looking around the café carefully as he spoke to his friend.

When his eyes came close to the Doctor, the Time Lord thought about looking away, but for some reason he met the young man's dark blue gaze. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, before the youth straighened to his full height and looked the Doctor full in the face, ceasing his conversation. A cold expression flowed over his fine features, and the message was clear. Very clear.

The Doctor tore his eyes away and directed them back to his daughter, who looked up at him quizzically. He smiled falsely. "Finished?"

"Yep," Jenny replied, and pushed her plate away. She sighed contentedly.

"Did you like it?"

"Yeah, I did!" Jenny continued enthusiastically. "I wasn't expecting it to taste too good, but... You know, you've gotta try it."

The Doctor nodded.

The serving girl soon came to take their plates, and it was at that moment that the Doctor remembered that he had nothing to pay with.

The girl put her hand out for the money, and the Doctor had nothing to place in it. He looked up in disgust with himself for forgetting.

"I'm sorry..." The Doctor began, but was immediately cut off by a voice behind the girl.

"I'll pay for these good citizens' meals, madamoiselle."

The man was young, and very thin, and not very tall. His face was expressionless, and the Doctor could not discern what he meant, but he was grateful to the man nonetheless.

Quickly he thanked the man and the girl, and pulling Jenny behind him hurried out of the café.

Only until he was outside did he allow himself to breathe.

"What's wrong?" Jenny panted, stopping her father in his tracks.

"That was close."

"What was?"

"If that man hadn't been there to pay for our meal, I most likely would have been reported, aaaand... That would not have been good. Besides, we need to get back to Donna. It's getting late." The Doctor continued to pull Jenny along beside him quickly hpuntil they reached the alleyway where he had parked the TARDIS. But instead of the homely blue box standing there with its comforting yellow lights, there was simply the darkness of the Parisian streets.


End file.
